STATE OF THE IRON THONG, April 2010

 Gang,

 Your officers met on Thursday evening, April 15, to discuss some matters that will affect our club. Here is an update for you. 

Tourney, tourney, where’s the tourney? 

We just completed our 8^th semi-annual tournament, and it was a resounding success! Congratulations to Jamie McBride, who is our new King Thong for the next six months. We had 44 players, 42 who competed in the tournament. It was a great day for the ITG. We’re glad to see that almost everyone stayed afterwards for tourney results and trophy presentations. 

The question came up in our meeting whether it’s mandatory to play our tournaments on our home course. After debate, we decided that there’s nothing that keeps us from playing a semi-annual tournament somewhere else than at The Hawk. Unfortunately, the condition of The Hawk hasn’t been at its best lately, and we had some complaints about it from members. Should we go somewhere else? For that matter, should we change home courses? 

We’re booked at The Hawk through the rest of the year, so we won’t be changing right away. We are, though, going to approach some of the other courses in our rotations to see if they’d be interested in being our home course. If we can work something out, we will. The Hawk, regardless of the condition it’s in, treats us pretty well and is probably the least expensive course we play, both in greens fees and cost of food and drinks. They’ll remain our home course through this year. 

But we may very well play our next tournament somewhere else. Once again, we’re going to be checking to see what kind of a deal we can get from other courses, and we’ll let you know. 

Break that tie, but do it in private 

Every tournament is a learning experience for our club and its officers. We had a bit of an argument this last time between a couple of our officers, and a couple of minor mistakes made in tabulating results. To keep this from happening again, we’ve made a couple of changes in procedure.  

The point of contention was how to determine a tie breaker when awarding trophies and money for fewest putts. In the past, whenever we had a tie between players for any of the low net categories, we went to the number one handicap hole and compared scores. If we had to, we went to the next handicap hole and compared, and so on until we had a winner. We’ll keep doing that. But we’re changing the procedure for determining a tie breaker for fewest putts. We’ll first compare total front nine putts and then total back nine putts to determine a winner. If that doesn’t work, then we’ll go to the number one handicap hole and compare, but we’ll compare putts, not scores. It’s fairer. 

The big difference is that from now on, the officers will take the cards and the hole markers and go to a separate room where we can have some privacy. While you’all will be whooping it up, telling stories, eating lunch and drinking beer, we’ll be figuring out the tournament results, in private. When we come back, we’ll have double-checked our calculations and there won’t be any mistakes made, we hope. 

It’s not the heat, it’s the humidity, I mean, it’s not the handicap, it’s the percentage

 You might not all be aware that we play our Saturday games using 100 percent of our handicaps. This gives everyone the maximum number of strokes possible to determine net scores. This seems to work fine as long as we’re only competing within our flights, where there won’t be a tremendous difference in handicaps. We don’t see any reason to change that.

 But playing our semi-annual tournaments and giving 100 percent of handicap is another matter. The suggested percentage by the USGA is 80 percent. That gives the high handicappers a few less strokes to subtract for net scores when compared to the low handicappers. If we’d done it that way during our last tournament, all three flight winners in low net would have been the same, but with more reasonable scores (66s and a 68). It also means that we’d have had a different overall winner, but we would have had to go to the third tie-breaker to determine it. In other words, the scores would have been closer and the competition would have been better. So from now on, we’re going to score our semi-annual tournaments at 80 percent of handicap.

 One of the reasons this has become an issue is that we’re growing at such a rapid rate. We have more players and more spread between our low and high handicappers than ever before. To that end, we’re also going to change the number of flights at our semi-annual tournament. If we have 40 players (and we had more than that last time), we’ll split into four flights instead of three. That means there will be a fourth flight to win net, gross, closest-to-the-pin and fewest putts trophies and money. More chances to win! It also means that the spread between low and high handicaps within each flight will be closer together and more competitive.

 How logo can you go?

 The ITG has logo towels for sale. We’ve sold quite a few to our members, but we have 20 or so left. The price has been $10 each, but we’re having a special sale to see if we can sell the rest. So here’s your chance – buy an ITG logo towel in your favorite color for only $5 until supplies run out! See Mike Linares to make your purchase.

 We’re also having ITG logo hats made. We’ll let you know when they come in and the price. We’re toying with the idea of letting you pre-order hats online.

 But I want to play with so-and-so…

You still can. We group our players together by their last low net score, not by handicap. This way, high handicappers get to play with low handicappers, if their last net score was good enough. This is good in a number of ways. First, it allows all of our members to play in groups with any other member. We all get to know each other better. Remember, our motto is to “share good space.” Also, even though some of the low handicappers may not realize it, they’re role models for the higher handicappers. The members who normally shoot in triple digits get to see how the single digit handicappers do it. They learn course management, pick up pointers, and generally improve their game.

Of course, if you have a particular member you want to share a group with, then you can let me know by asking to be paired with someone specific in the comments section when you sign up. I always try to accommodate players when they request it. Just try to keep it to one person; don’t try to set up a foursome of your own. I also try to pair members and their guests in the same group.

Our dance calendar is almost full

This week, we added The Bandit, Pine Forest (in Bastrop), Concan, Tapatio Springs and Landa Park to our schedule – all for less than $50 each! We have only one open date left! Take a look at the schedule next time you confirm that you’re playing.

That’s all for now

In short, the state of the Iron Thong is excellent! We’re still growing and increasing our influence in the San Antonio golf community. Your officers meet periodically, so if you have any topics you’d like us to discuss, just email us at the “Ask the Pres” button on the home page.

See ya’all next Saturday.

Steve VanWert
President, Iron Thong Golf

The State of the Iron Thong, Fall/Winter 2009/2010

Gang,

I’m happy to tell you that the state of the Iron Thong is GREAT! Our membership continues to increase as word of mouth spreads to new players. Prospective members are impressed with how smoothly we run our Saturday competitions, keep track of our monies and membership and always consider what’s best for our members when making decisions. We’re gaining an outstanding reputation within San Antonio golf circles, as witnessed by some of the great deals we’re getting from high-end courses in the area.

As a matter of fact, we just finalized another outstanding outing, this time with Pecan Valley Golf Course. We’re scheduled to play there on April 17, with an 8 a.m. shotgun start for only $49, including range balls. Believe me, a deal like this wouldn’t have been possible just a couple of years ago.

Your officers and board of directors just concluded meeting to discuss various topics and plan for our April 3 tournament. I wanted to share with you some of the things we discussed, to keep you’ all in the loop. It was a busy meeting, so there are a lot of subjects.

MERCHANDISING

The ITG already has golf towels for sale. If you’re interested, see Mike Linares at the next Saturday golf day and purchase one from him. They’re a variety of colors and all sport the ITG logo.

We’re also in the process of ordering new caps. Some of you may remember that we bought caps a couple of years ago, but we felt with all our new members, it was time to do it again. They’ll be for sale to our members in the $14-$15 price range. I’ll let you know when they come in.

SPEEDING UP PLAY

We’ve had a couple of minor problems with club marshals giving some of our groups a hard time about the pace of play. There are a couple of things we can do to speed up play. Here are a few: 

First, play ready golf. Go ahead and tee off if you’re the first one on the tee. Just because Rob or Donnie just eagled the last hole, it doesn’t mean you have to wait for them!

Second, prepare in advance. Walk up to your ball with the proper choice of clubs in hand, make your decision and hit the ball! Don’t waste time going back and forth to your cart to pick a club. Be ready to play. Limit your practice strokes to a couple, not a couple of dozen. If we’re playing “lift, clean and place,” mark your ball, pick it up and clean it off. There’s no need to polish it!

When you’re on the green, line up your putt while the others are doing the same thing. You don’t have to wait until it’s your turn to putt. Line it up in advance. Then just walk up there and stroke it. You’ll find that your tempo will get better and more putts will go in … probably.

Third, if you’re riding a cart and your playing partners are walking, drive on up and start looking for their ball right away. If you find it, drop a towel or something next to it so it can be seen easily. Then go drive to your ball and hit it while the others walk to theirs.

If you’re unlucky enough to hit a ball into a hazard, or into the deep rough, mentally mark where it entered so you’ll know where to look. Remember, you get only five minutes to look before you have to declare it a lost ball. And if you think it may be lost when you hit it, and it’s not lost in a marked hazard, hit a provisional. Don’t take the time to drive or walk back to hit a second ball.

Speaking of provisional’s, we decided last year that after the second provisional goes out of bounds, a player should go to the spot, drop a ball and add two strokes to his total. (Of course, this never happens to YOU, only the other guy.) Once again, it saves time.

MONEY, MONEY, WHO GETS THE MONEY?

Lately, we’ve been fortunate enough to have a lot of shotgun starts, rather than consecutive tee times. But either way, we need to pay up for whatever pools we want to enter, including the mandatory ones. We’ve noticed that sometimes, especially when Mike Linares is playing in one of the earlier groups, some of our players have difficulty paying him before he tees off. To make this easier, the sign-up sheet will be passed down from Mike to another officer, all the way to the last group. The money bag, though, won’t, so if you sign up and Mike has already teed off, your “donation” will be annotated on our homepage along with winnings. You can pay or collect the next week.

IS THAT A ‘FIVE’ OR A ‘SIX’?

Let’s face it, we’re not calligraphers. Sometimes our handwriting is a cross between chicken tracks and Egyptian hieroglyphics. This is true especially when marking down numbers. As a result, we’re making a couple of changes to the way we mark our scorecards to cut down on errors and hurt feelings. These changes will take place after our tournament, but feel free to start early and get into the spirit of legibility.

First, write down first and last names and print them carefully. Mark down scores carefully. If you have to make a change to a score, erase the incorrect one completely or mark through it thoroughly, then enter the correct score carefully. When you’re all done, if it’s necessary, get a new card and copy the scores down so they can be read easily. If you’ve got some kind of skins game or round robin or wolf game going on in your group, use a second card to keep track of it.

When the round is over, compare cards if more than one person is scoring (and that should be happening, of course). Before you turn the official card in to one of the officers, the scorer must sign and each card must be attested by one of the group. After that, the cards will be official and no changes will be made later.

LOVER’S QUARRELS

We all love golf, right? So when we argue about rules with each other, it must be a lover’s quarrel. To keep harmony in our family and keep arguments to a minimum, let’s solve our rules disputes within the foursome, if possible. If a situation arises where the players can’t come to an agreement, then the player in question should play two balls from that point, record both scores, and ask for a ruling from the club officers after the round.

Just remember that we play by the rules, even when something happens that’s not our fault, like hitting a ball and having it bounce back and hit us. That’s two strokes, even if it wasn’t intentional. If we carry more than 14 clubs and we’re called on it, that’s a stroke a hole for every hole played.

Playing by the rules sets us apart from other golf groups in the area – and they know it.

BREAKING UP IS SO VERY HARD TO DO

Well, not really. We currently split into two flights every Saturday, and three flights during our semi-annual tournaments. Our membership is increasing nearly weekly, so we’ve decided that when we get to 32 or more players on a Saturday, we’ll break into three flights.

SOME CHALLENGES REALLY AREN’T MUCH OF A CHALLENGE

A few years ago, we started awarding a plaque we called the “Cups Point Challenge.” It’s for the member who accumulates the most points by beating the greatest number of players in net score each week. It’s cumulative. Unfortunately, it’s also sort of pointless. We realize that it really awards those players who play the most rounds. With all our new members, it’s become a nightmare for John to figure out, so we’re going to drop it after the April tournament. However, we’re adding a low gross trophy for each flight, starting this tournament. Plus, we’re awarding $50 with each trophy. It’s the only time all year that we reward a gross score, but we felt that the three members who actually shoot the lowest score should get some recognition on tournament day.

In case you didn’t know it, we’ve also allocated $100 (plus a trophy) to be awarded to any member who scores a hole-in-one during our Saturday rounds. Of course, we expect him or her to immediately spend it buying rounds for everyone!

THE BIG FINISH    

That’s all for now. Our next tournament is April 3 at The Hawk. We expect it to be the biggest and best so far, with more money, more trophies and more fun for all! If you’ve got your five rounds in, then you’re eligible. If you haven’t, you better hurry because there are only three rounds left! John will be sending out more info on the tournament soon.

Steve VanWert
ITG president
 

7th ITG Tournament - October 3rd 2009

 

Well first off I want to Thank mother nature! She held off long enough to make our tournament a success, not long after our last group finish she punished Central Texas with a healthy helping of rain.  I'm not even sure we can call it rain, more like a typhoon!  None-the-less she dropped enough rain to make the drive out of the Hawk interesting, man does it flood on the road going out to 281.

 

The tournament had a good turn out and I want to say Thanks to everyone that played.  This is why we have our league designed this way so we can throw our bi-yearly tournament.  I want to say congratulation to the be know "Champion" Mike Linares who tied with Scott Fritts but won it all on the #1 handicap the par 5 #3 hole in a play back decision.  Mike pared it and Scott Boogied it which by ruling in a tie goes to the lowest score starting from the hardest to the easiest hole on the course.

 

Congratulations Mike Linares

ITG 7th Tournament Champion Spring/Summer 2009

Net (63) - First time the C Flight has won.

 

All the tournament details and pictures can be found here:

 

http://www.ironthonggolf.com/Weekly%20Analysis/100309/index.htm

 

We also had a few Thongers vault themselves into the Wall of Shame... Ugggg

 

http://www.ironthonggolf.com/Wall%20of%20Shame/index.htm